New Era of Travel Shopping: How personalization is closing the gap between inspiration and booking
By: Mario El Feghali- Head of Business Partnerships for Travel & Tourism, Global Business Solutions, MENA – TikTok

We’ve all been there, imagining the perfect getaway only to find ourselves drowning in browser tabs, toggling between flight options, hotel reviews, and itinerary planners. What starts as an exciting idea quickly becomes a maze of decisions, doubts, and digital clutter. Yet, travel is one of the most sought-after experiences in people’s lives.
That passion is reflected in projections for the industry, with the MENA travel and tourism sector alone expected to reach over $400 billion by 2032. It’s an exciting outlook, but it also highlights a persistent challenge, the gap between how people dream about travel and the often frustrating reality of planning it. Despite the demand, travel has long been a high-risk, high-reward category. It requires a significant investment of time, money, and emotional energy, making the booking process feel more like a high-stakes gamble than an enjoyable first step on the journey.
On average, travelers consult 38 sources before deciding where to go, how to get there, and what to book. No surprise then that nearly 90% of people find travel planning stressful, and despite all that effort, only 45% say their trips fully meet expectations.
This gap between anticipation and execution isn’t just inconvenient, it’s a missed opportunity for brands and travelers alike. While 64% of people say they enjoy traveling, only 26% say they enjoy the process of booking. That speaks to a broader issue in the travel ecosystem, the search experience hasn’t evolved in step with consumer expectations. Today’s travelers are mobile-first, visually driven, and heavily influenced by communities they trust. Yet traditional search is still often text-heavy, desktop-optimized, and brand-led. What people want are fast, intuitive, and immersive tools. What they get is friction.
That’s where platforms like TikTok are changing the game.
We’re witnessing a shift from traditional search to a discovery-first approach, where content doesn’t wait to be found; it finds you. Travelers no longer rely solely on what the media chooses to show them or what search engines decide to surface. Instead, they explore based on personal interests, niche communities, and real experiences shared by real people.
Today, millions are using TikTok not just for entertainment, but as a source of genuine travel inspiration. In fact, over half of users say they’ve found travel inspiration on TikTok that influenced their plans. The distance between seeing a destination and booking a trip is shrinking fast.
Take TikTok’s Dynamic Travel Ads (DTA) as an example of how personalized discovery is driving real-world impact. Accor, one of the world’s leading hospitality brands, recently put this into practice to increase direct bookings through its ALL.com platform. By combining real-time inventory with tailored creative formats, Accor didn’t just advertise, they integrated seamlessly into the user’s discovery journey. The results? A 50% reduction in cost per booking, double the bookings, and a significant boost in return on ad spend.
But what makes this truly compelling is not the impressive numbers, but the method. Accor moved away from interruptive, one-size-fits-all ads and towards personalized discovery. They didn’t push messages, they enabled experiences. This isn’t just marketing evolution; it’s a glimpse into the future of travel shopping.
For marketers, that future holds massive potential. Personalization isn’t just about better targeting, it’s about better connection. In a digital age where attention is scarce and choices are endless, relevance is the ultimate differentiator. When technology enhances the user experience instead of interrupting it, brands become part of the journey, not just a checkpoint along the way.
Having worked across this space for years, I believe we’re entering one of the most exciting phases in travel and tourism. The goal is no longer just to drive clicks or bookings, it’s to craft moments of inspiration that lead to lasting brand loyalty and richer travel experiences.
When we pair personalization with creative strategy, we don’t just make travel planning easier, we make it more human. And that’s the kind of journey everyone wants to be a part of.